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Well for some time I, along with other Allroad’rs have been keen to see what actually makes the Allroad suspension compressor tick, well rattle anyway. I have had two dismantled and here are the findings:

1st many thanks to VinPetrol from VWAF who very kindly donated his old compressor which we believe was fitted (badly) by the last owner and had done approx 70K miles. The compressor was manufactured dated 2004. Its symptoms were, it was noisy & poor performance, so what makes it noisy and loose performance…..?There are only a few moving parts, rotating motor, crank, piston and some one way valves. In this case the motor is fine no play in shafts, but the piston ring was a loose fit in the cylinder bore, with a lot of side to side play which would result in poor compression and could increase the noise.

In short, I have made a replacement Piston ring made from 25% Carbon graphite PTFE which is the same as the material used on the original, and ideal for these dry running applications. I have one fitted and it is now on trial on my own Allroad, the compression is renewed and now lifts the car much quicker. This is just under trial just now but I am quietly confident this is a good repair for the Allroad giving it a new lease of life. Better than £300-400 for a new air compressor!!

I could manufacture new PTFE rings in kits, if any one would be interested in changing these themselves then let me know. Typical symptoms would be it is very slow to raise through the levels, or even failing to reach a level, & very noisy. Get a fault code first to make sure all sensors & systems are working ok 1st.I have had a new piston ring fitted to mine for 3 weeks now, I timed it the other day with car parked raised it from level 1 to 2 took 18 seconds, from level 2 to 3 took 18 seconds, and from level 3 to 4 took 45 seconds, it seems to run even better now than from when it was 1st fitted, I even struggle to hear it running at all .

This Piston ring repair kit may also suit other models I believe this Wabco unit part no 415 403 106 0 and other similar versions, can be found on the Q7, VW Touareg, Merc, BMW, Discovery and others. See wabco list in the PDF document found below.I looked into this further & VW actually offer a repair kit for the Touareg compressor consisting of a new piston ring, o-ring seal and bolts. From pictures I have seen, they look the same wabco compressor unit apart from mounting brackets & the drier unit does differ slightly, but I have no evidence if they are actually the same. VW also offer a new drier unit part which a few were for sale on E-bay recently but wrongly advertised as for the Allroad. The Touareg has another connection from the drier unit for inflating tyres from the same compressor hence it is not a straight forward fit for the Allroad.

For peoples ref the VW part number, should anyone wish to pursue, is 7L0 698 030 for the Piston repair kit £108+VAT I have no evidence if it is compatible. In my opinion the motor assembly and piston look very, very similar, also the ones offered by Arnott are from wabco & they look the same motor unit, only with different mountings, drier air connections or electrical connections, to suit different models. I may be wrong, I do not wish anyone to follow this info and for it to be wrong. Audi say the piston repair kit is not on offer for the Allroad, and in my opinion the kit was too expensive for me, to only maybe fit.

For a repair kit I was thinking a kit consisting of a new piston ring, new o-ring seal, 2 new bolts, loctite thread lock, tie wraps and a manual to fit it, I was thinking total £35 delivered to your door. I could make this kit available on E-bay or contact me direct to discuss other options.

Anyway some may find all the above info usefull J, others may not L. All Photos of the compressor in various bits can be found in my albums in my profile, If anyone else knows any other info, or if I have anything incorrect about these compressors it would be great to know more.

Any thoughts on, or any numbers interested in a Repair kit welcomed,

regards

Andy

Last edited by bagpipingandy; 30-03-2012 at 08:07 PM.
Reason: link removed for parts some reason it doesn't work now :(

Andy, this looks to be excellent work on your part. Given my experience with compressor failure on my Allroad, it is an issue always at the back of my mind - even though I would fit it myself, when do I next have to shell out £400 for a new one. At £35, your kit is a no-brainer.
Only issue I would have is would the kit fix the next problem. My first falure was noisy compressor - still worked but very noisy and Audi recommended replacement. Looks like your kit would have fixed this problem. My second failure was without warning. One morning it was on level 1 and errored when I tried to raise back to normal level 2 or higher. A few hours later it could not maintain level 1 and again errored. I then had to get Audi France to recover and result was yet another new compressor. With this second fault there was no noisy motor and no warning. Does this fault fit into your failure analysis?
At £35 a kit, I think it would certainly be worth trying. Since I spend half the year in France, it might be worth having your kit in the glove compartment next to the spare bulb kit! How long do you think it will take for you to feel confident about the kit's durability?
Well done and I for one am VERY interested.

Only issue I would have is would the kit fix the next problem. My first falure was noisy compressor - still worked but very noisy and Audi recommended replacement. Looks like your kit would have fixed this problem. My second failure was without warning. One morning it was on level 1 and errored when I tried to raise back to normal level 2 or higher. A few hours later it could not maintain level 1 and again errored. I then had to get Audi France to recover and result was yet another new compressor. With this second fault there was no noisy motor and no warning. Does this fault fit into your failure analysis?

By the sounds of your second fail this was a valve. leak or electrical issue, difficult to say but not a low compression issue so no a new ring would make sod all improvement, Audi's only option was to change the compressor as they don't take things to bits like us . for example You can buy N111 valves and temp sensors seperate which all fit on to the compressor, i posted the link to a US company in my 1st post but for some reason it didn't work, but i have seen G290 sensors for sale and N111 solenoid valves, again if i had these faulty it would be my preference to buy the single part rather than the whole compressor, however you were stuck in France, and with a warranty on the newly fitted one it was the right thing to do.

As for durability I am confident it is as good as the original, The ring is made of the same material as my original compressor dated 2000, which is Carbon PTFE & is designed for dry running applications. I have done 128,000 miles and i honestly believe my compressor is the original, the dates and condition of it tie in together. My compressor was not on its way out, but it was tired.
So as long as i have not made any major manufacturing errors i feel it should be good for at least half this. it may take a while for me to do another 120,000 miles, think the cams would give in 1st!! I plan to run it another few weeks and swap it back to my original compressor also with a new ring to allow me to inspect the 1st one to make sure it looks ok, this is about all I can do as then only time will tell. I have 5 kits almost made up and I plan to put them on E-bay very soon. If there is any interest and people do fit them if they can report back here as this would give us all confidence if the parts are as I have described and are a fix for these units.

Andy, I see one can buy (for £40) a compressor temp sensor cable on e-Bay. Had a google search but cannot find where one could buy an N111 solenoid valve. Do you have a link for this?
I had (seriously) thought of carrying a repair kit in the car, but... your kit @ £35, the temp sensor cable @ £40 plus whatever for the N111 solenoid valve. I guess we would be looking at £100+.
Maybe it is a case of wating for a failure and then source the relevant parts.

Andy, I see one can buy (for £40) a compressor temp sensor cable on e-Bay. Had a google search but cannot find where one could buy an N111 solenoid valve. Do you have a link for this?
I had (seriously) thought of carrying a repair kit in the car, but... your kit @ £35, the temp sensor cable @ £40 plus whatever for the N111 solenoid valve. I guess we would be looking at £100+.
Maybe it is a case of wating for a failure and then source the relevant parts.

the link was: http://www.air-suspension-shop.com/ but for some reason the shop has dissappeared, it had al the parts based in the US, i found it only last week and thought it looked usefull, cannot be that good!! it had n111 solenoid valve, G290 temp sensors and full compressors for sale, sure there must be others we will need to keep a look out for them

I knew the shop was real just must have changed hands the day I last looked at it

They used to list the n111 valve so need to keep an eye on it to see if they list them again,

Note they have a new version of the compressor with a straight running piston (non fixed) claiming a longer life, this confirms to me it is ussually the piston rings that wear as I mentioned somewhere the pistons are fixed (no gudeon pin) and so do not travel straight in the cylinder generating more wear on the ring. this company will have fitted a new conrod and piston part to create this straight running version, not really worth it if you look after the leaks the compressor shouldn't have to work too hard anyway. anyway another supplier of parts we may need, hopefully not to soon!!

Very nice to see you have got it going Andy, and a proper ebay seller also!
I noticed two sold already, any feedback yet?
Do you think this job would be possible without lift or stands?
I managed to get hold of oem repair kit, don't know if I will do it myself or try to get someone to do it for me when time comes.

Just sold a 3rd, I told the guys to give feedback once fitted, so none yet, you need the car raised to remove the compressor, I use 2 ramps to drive the rear up on to.
When you say oem repair kit do you mean the ones I have mentioned above on eBay or direct from vw?

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